WHITSUNDAYS, Australia (17 Oct 2006) -- PADI's dive store marketing scheme, which leads dive consumers to compare scuba diving operators solely on the basis of price, is being blamed for the demise of Pro Dive, a PADI 5-Star CDC based in the Whitsundays, the heart of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Pro Dive's failure reflects an overall 30 per cent decline in Australia's dive industry and underscores the difficulty of competing with other PADI dive operators located in popular travel destinations where the same scuba diving products and services are significantly less expensive. While Australia's dive industry continues to decline, Asia dive destinations, especially Thailand and the Philippines, are booming with reported growth exceeding 40 per cent. Dive Queensland tourism officials, notably Col McKenzie who was widely criticized several years ago for attempting to cover up dive operator negligence that led to the scuba diving deaths of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, said that Australia's dive industry needs to compete with Asian markets on the basis of quality, not price. Seen one, seen 'em all But CDNN dive travel editor Carmen Sanchez disagreed citing PADI's dive store and dive resort marketing scheme, which has reduced scuba diving courses and even dive resort travel packages to commodities. "PADI dive stores and resort facilities benefit from their affiliation with a company that offers the marketing clout of a global brand, multi-media advertising campaigns, a travel network and a customer referral system that enables PADI stores and resorts to 'share' customers," Sanchez said. | | Unable to compete with PADI scuba stores in Asia that offer exactly the same selection and quality of scuba diving products at less than half the price, PADI 5-Star CDC Pro Dive in Queenlsand went belly up. "But PADI's marketing juggernaut, which emphasizes the uniformity of its products, leaves dive store and resort owners competing with each other to sell commodities primarily on the basis of price...that gives a huge advantage to dive operators based in Asia where labor and other fixed costs are significantly lower," Sanchez said. "Why pay twice as much to get to Australia, twice as much to stay there, and twice as much to dive there when you could enjoy the same '5-star' quality in relatively undeveloped and uncrowded Asian destinations," Sanchez added. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
